Mold for pottery fabricating machines



Oct. 24, 1950 J. A. BOWER 4 MOLD FOR POTTERY FABRICATING MACHINES Original Filed March I, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I INVENTOR. (Fig.4. 15v drama vBower BY wfim ATTORN EY.

Oct. 24, 1950 J. A. BOWER 2,526,993

MOLD FOR POTTERY FABRICATING MACHINES Original Filed March 1, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR,

ATTORNQ Patented Oct. 24, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MOLD FOR POTTERY FABRICATI'NG MACHINES .JamesA' ow r Gh s W1 a as iznd T Taylor, Smith & .Taylor Company, East Liverpool, 'Ohio, at corporation'of West'Virginia Original application March 1,-1945, Serial No. 580,401. Divided. and this application April .8, ,194.'Z,- Serial;No. 740,105 I 8 Claims; (Cl. 25- 129) 7 and claimed in my Patents Nos. 2,273,015 and 2,273,016, granted February 17, 1942. y In the machine disclosed in my application Serial No.,580,401,'th e moldsare placed in trays and the trays .arecaused to travel step-by-step through the machine, ,a-nd all operations necessary for complete fabrication of the ware such as cleaningthe molds, p uring the slip,; Opening and closing the molds,;drying the ware, removing, fettling, inverting and stacking the ware, etc, are performed automatically.

The subject matter of .the present application relates to molds adapted for use in automatic machines such as disclosed in my application Serial No. 580,401 or in other machines, andone of the objects'of the present invention is to provide molds adapted to cooperate with the various elements ofautomatic casting machines, and so designed and constructed as to reduce wear to a minimum.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 .is a vertical sectional view of one of the molds;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of one of the trays and showing one mold thereon with its upper section removed andpositioned on ,the tray beside its lower section;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary perspective'yiew of one of the trays .with the molds removed; 7

Figure 4 a. sectional .view; of yone-ofthe trays, and'showing in elevational 'viewone of, the molds closed and locked;

Figure '5 is an elevational view of one of the molds unlocked and the upper-section'lifted-from the lowersection; Figure 6 is a detail fragmentary viewillustrating the means for aligning, the. mold sections; 2.

F re 7 isa detai f men ar viewi lust atr e t m s onmq ntine t e uppe o ec: tion when it has been removed from the lower mold section;

Figure 8 isa detail 'view illustrating the mold lo e n i loc d o t o and Figure 9 isa similar view showing the locking means in unlocked position.

Referring to the drawings in more detail .m a I indi at on .o t e a s f rc yi the molds through a casting machine. The trays are relatively longand narrow and are composed of longitudinal side bars 2 of angle formation which are united at their respeQtive endsby end bars 3. The bars 3 are slightly longer than the .widthof the trays so as to provide end portions 4 which contact si nilarportions of adjacent trays when passing along the tracks of the apparatus and provide a slight space between theside bars of adjacent trays. The'trays may carry any desired number of molds.

The molds are composed of upper and lower sections {and ,6 respectively. These sectionsare in the form of metal rings of angular cross se tion, and totheserings are molded sections land 8 made of plaster-of-Paris or other porous material which form themold cavity. This mold construction. is highly advantageous in that the metal frames of angular cross-section permit direct casting of the plaster thereto, and of course they reduce to a minimumthe wear on the :plaster-of-Paris moldsections as they travel throu h the machine and are snlqljected to various operations.

The mold sections are separable from each other as wellas from the-trays [,andin order to properly arrange the lowermold sectionsin the trays andproperly align the upper and lower mold sections, the lowermold sections are provided with pins 9 which extend downwardly to be received in apertures ID in the side barsofthe trays and upwardly .-;to engage apertures II in the upper mold sections.

During the-various operations the upper mold sectionsare mechanicallyremoved from the lower-sections and set on the trays at one side thereof. To facilitate the operations'of removing and re-applying the upper mold sections it is desirable -that the upper sections have positions in h tsame. hor nta rnlan wheth -0 or o the lower sections, and to this end spacing blocks l2, Figures 2, 3, and '7, are provided at one side of each lower mold section. These blocks are provided with pins I3 which enter the apertures II in the upper mold sections when the latter are removed from the lower sections. In other words, the apertures I l engage the pins 9 when the upper mold section is on the lower section, and the same apertures engage the pins [3 when the upper mold sections are removed from the lower sections. The spacing blocks l2 have a vertical dimension corresponding to that of the lower mold sections, so that the upper sections are on the same level relative to the tray at all times, except when being moved by a lifting device.

It is essential that the mold sections be locked together during filling and also'during a portion of the molding operation, and a plurality of clamps M are permanently attached to the 'molds' for this purpose. These clamps are spaced around,

locked by forcibly swinging the clamps outwardly.

The adjustable feature of the bolts ll serves to provide the proper frictional engagement with the clamps l4 regardless of the wear and tear as well as inaccuracies'in the mold sections.

The clamps M are provided with notches 18 on their upper ends to form shoulders to be en-. gaged by hooks ill for moving the clamps to unlocked position. Also, the upper mold sections are provided with outwardly tapered lugs 19 on their periphery, adapted to be engaged by mechanism for opening and'closing the molds, as illustrated in fragmentary fashion in Figure 5.

Each of the upper mold sections is provided with a chargingor filling funnel 20 which is permanently imbedded in the plaster-of-Paris and which opens into the interior of the mold. The

funnel may also perform other functions, as described in my parent application Serial No. 580,4;01.

'From the foregoing description it will be apparent that the mold I have devised is highly advantageous in that the metal frames of angular cross-section permit'direct casting of the plaster thereto, and of course they reduce to a minimum "the Wear of the plaster-'of-Paris mold sections as they travel through the machine and are sub- -"jected to the variousoperations.

" And it will also beapparent from the foregoing description that the mold disclosed herein is of such aconstructionthat it is adapted to cooperate with the various elements of casting machines, such as the machine shown in my parent application Serial No. 580,401 or other machines, so that all operations necessary for complete fabrication of the ware may be performed automatically.

Having fully described the invention, what I claim is:

'1. In combination apott'ery mold comprising upp r and lower sections, each section including a metal ring and a plaster-of-Paris molding portion attached thereto, pins extending above and below the surface of one of said rings, the other ring providedwith apertures adapted to register with that'portion of the pins extending above the surface of the first-mentioned ring, and a tray provided with apertures to receive the portions of the pins extending below the ring.

2. In combination a pottery mold comprising upper and lower sections, each section including a metal portion and a plaster-of-Paris molding portion attached thereto, pins carried by one of the metal sections, the other metal section provided with apertures, and a tray provided with apertures, the apertures of the :tray and of the metal mold section adapted to receive said pins.

3. In combination a pottery mold comprising ,=upper and lower sections, each section including ametal ring anda plaster-of-Paris molding portionattached thereto, pins carried by the lower section, the upper Section having apertures to receive the pins, a tray, and pins on said tray, "said second-mentioned pins adapted to be received in' the apertures in the upper sections when the upper sections are removed from the .lower sections. 7 *4. A pottery mold comprising separable metal rings, a plaster-of-Paris mold section connected to each ring, clamps connected to the metal por-- tion of one of said sections and adapted to engage over the metal portion of the other section, a shoulder formed onthe clamps to provide means tobe engaged by clamp releasing mechanism, and lugs on the' metal portion of the upper section to be engaged by mechanism for removing the upper mold section from the lower mold section. 5. A pottery mold comprising separable metal rings, a plaster-of-Paris mold section connected to each ring, a charging funnel permanently imbedded in and forming part of the plaster-of- Paris portion -'of the upper mold section, and lugs on the metal portion of the upper section to'be engaged by mechanism for removing the upper mold section from the lower mold section. 6; A pottery mold comprisingupper and lower sections, each section including a metal holder, at plaster-of-Paris molding portion secured there- 'to, a charging funnel permanently imbedded in the plaster-of-Paris portion of the upper mold section, pins carried by the metal portion of one of the mold sections,-the metal portion of the other section having apertures to receive said pins, and means carried by the metal portion of one of the sections for locking the two sections together, and lugs on the metal portion of the upper'section to be engaged by mechanism for removing the upper mold section from the lower mold section.

7. A pottery mold comprising upper and lower s'ections,each section including a metal holder,

3, plaster-'of-Paris molding portion secured thereto; a charging-funnel permanently imbedded in and forming part of the plaster-of-Paris portion of the upper mold section, pins carried by the metal portion of one 'ofthe mold sections, the metal portion of the other section having apertures to receive said pins, clamps carried by the metal portion of'one of the sections for locking the two sections together, and ashoulder formed on the clamps to provide means to be engaged by clamp releasing mechanism.

8. A pottery mold comprising upper and lower sections, each section'including a metal holder, 'a'plaster-of-Paris molding portion secured thereto, a charging funnel permanently imbedded in and forming part of the plaster-.of-Paris portion of "the upper. moldsection, pins carried-by the metal portion of one of the mold sections, the metal portion of theiother section having apertures to 'receive said pins,;c1amps carried by the metal portion of one of the sections for locking the two sections together, a shoulder formed on the clamps to provide means to be engaged by clamp releasing mechanism, and lugs on the metal portion of the upper section to be err-- gaged by mechanism for removing the upper mold section from the lower mold section.

JAMES A. BOWER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

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